Sony hacker attack proves we're all pretty much naked

AFP/Getty Images

The hackers have demanded that Sony halt the release of its upcoming film "The Interview," a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco that involves a farcical plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The hackers have demanded that Sony halt the release of its upcoming film "The Interview," a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco that involves a farcical plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (AFP/Getty Images)

Rex W. Huppke

We're all pretty much naked. Best be careful what we text and email.

We're all naked these days.

I don't mean naked in the "no clothes, naughty bits swaying in the breeze" sense, but rather "electronically exposed." We're online exhibitionists, even if we don't mean to be, as our digital files and texts and emails can likely be seen by anyone who bothers to look closely enough.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has become painfully aware of this, having their unmentionables viewed by hackers who grabbed immense amounts of the studio's computer data and are now releasing that data to an array of media outlets.

The information ranges from the scripts of unreleased movies, including an upcoming James Bond film, to salary data and a wide array of emails that show rude behind-the-scenes chatter. A high-ranking Sony executive and a producer had a racially insensitive email exchange about President Barack Obama. Other emails revealed a producer calling Angelina Jolie a spoiled brat and a Sony employee disparaging Adam Sandler films as formulaic. (Shocking, I know.)

The hackers have demanded that Sony halt the release of its upcoming film "The Interview," a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco that involves a farcical plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. It seems the dictator didn't look kindly on the film's premise — North Korean state media called the movie "an act of war" and added that if the film comes out as planned on Dec. 25, "a merciless counter-measure will be taken."

It's not clear yet who's responsible for hacking Sony, but there's suspicion that North Korea is involved. Regardless, the whole debacle is either an unbelievable breach of a major company's computer security or one whale of a publicity stunt.

Sony Pictures Entertainment wants news outlets to stop publishing stories based on material stolen by hackers, who recently ransacked the company's computer network to devastating effect. From one perspective, that might be the right thing to do. Though it was found on corporate servers, some of...

What's truly remarkable is that people in this day and age still ignore the old adage: If you don't want anyone to see it, don't write it down.

How does an executive in any company email jokes about which movies involving black people — "Django Unchained," "12 Years a Slave," etc. — the president of the United States might like without thinking, "Wait a second, I better not put that in an email. What if someone gets hold of it?"

Surprise! Someone got hold of it, and now Sony officials and an array of actors, writers and producers seem less concerned about who stole their dirty laundry and more focused on slamming the media outlets giving that laundry a bit of air.

On Sunday, the studio sent a threatening note to a number of newspapers and online news sites saying, according to The New York Times, that Sony "does not consent to your possession, review, copying, dissemination, publication, uploading, downloading or making any use" of the information.

Screenwriter and pomposity enthusiast Aaron Sorkin wrote an op-ed for The New York Times in which he called any news outlet that used the hacked material "morally treasonous and spectacularly dishonorable."

Undoubtedly, this cyberattack is not to be taken lightly, and there was considerable personal information stolen and ample damage done. I don't mean to underplay that or the concern this has brought to people whose privacy was violated.

But Sorkin's declaration that the information released isn't newsworthy and those who release it are immoral is incorrect. The whole thing is newsworthy, if for no other reason than to shine a light on how swiftly any of us can be disrobed in public.

If a company like Sony can lose such a huge chunk of data that quickly and be blackmailed by an anonymous person or persons, what hope is there for the rest of us to keep the wraps on our personal information?

If we want to function in an increasingly online world, we have little choice but to trust others to protect our medical and financial goings-on. But we're responsible for the words we type into the glowing boxes that occupy so much of our time. And for the photos we take with the phones we carry.

If you want to spout off on a friend's messy love life or an enemy's dirty deeds — or especially a president's taste in movies — consider doing the spouting via spoken word, directly to another human's face.

Or chisel the rant into stones, then read them back to yourself and savor your biting turn of phrase. Then drop those stones from a high building, gather the pieces and scatter them in two rivers and a lake.

Anything short of that, and there's always the chance your words could go public, and you could feel a sudden draft.

Because we're all naked these days. Best not to give anyone reason to stare.